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Thursday, August 25, 2016

When we think of leaders and
when we think of millennials, there are usually conflicting descriptions. We
describe great leaders as honest, hard working, empowering, transparent, generous
and so many other positive traits.
Millennials are often described as lazy, entitled, selfish and so many other negative traits. However, after working
with thousands of millennials, I can assure that these assertions about
millennials are myths.And I am sure you
are thinking this is a relief.

Millennials have the hunger
and potential to become great leaders. But they lack fundamental leadership
skills and don’t understand how to tap into them. It’s up to us as the old
guys, the parents, managers and leaders to teach them how to tap into their
inner leadership power. Lead by example, through coaching and teaching, so we
can demonstrate how to understand their valuable skills and access their inner
leader. The big question is…how? Here
are 4 ways to develop your millennial workers into leaders of the future.

1.)Lead
from Strength

The
best leaders are effective because they
know what they’re best at and they lead with those skills. In order to
create effective millennial leaders, we must help them first understand their
strengths. Consider using a strength finder assessment or the Power of Why? to
unveil your millennials’ strengths, passions and values. Each of your
millennial workers has their own gifts and talents. Your job is to identify
what these skills are so you can place them in the optimal position for them to
succeed. This is how millennials can tap into their true leadership power—by
leading from their strengths

2.)Teach the WIFThem strategy

Knowing
your strengths is critical to being a great leader... but it does no good do if
you can’t communicate your strengths
to others. Teach your millennials how to communicate their value so it’s relevant
to whomever they’re speaking to. At launchbox, we use the WIFThem strategy,
which stands for “What’s in it for them?” We must show millennials that when
they shift the focus from “me” to “them,” they can deliver the most value. As
the most purposeful generation, they get this.Lets
say your millennial is talking to a prospective client. He can either say a.) “I am a people person,” or b.) “I offer
impeccable customer service, anticipate people’s needs and go above and beyond
to solve customer problems.” Which sounds better? Show your millennials how to
align the WIFThem method with their strengths so they can lead effectively. This
is true leadership power.

3.)Teach
them how to listen—and prove that they listened

Great
leaders understand the power of listening and being able to be influenced. They
listen to client and employee frustrations, new ideas and opportunities before they act and speak. Millennials
grew up with the ability to voice their opinion 24/7 365 days a year. In such a
noisy world, they need to understand value of being a good listener. Coach your
millennials that they can’t learn while they’re talking, but only when they’re
listening. Show them how that works by demonstrating that skill with them.

Teach
your millennials not just to listen, but to show
that they are listening and retaining what they hear. Have them repeat back to
you what they’ve heard. Have them ask powerful questions to show they are
curious and engaged. This powerful strategy proves that your Millennials truly
care. By conveying that they not only listened, but retained information as
well, your Millennials will naturally lead with confidence.

4.)Be
Transparent

Millennials grew up in a world
with little to no privacy. Social media is the norm for them and they’re used
to people seeing every part of their life via Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. They
are also jaded by being bombarded with messaging. They crave authenticity:
being real.As a manger, teach them the
power of transparency. In order to lead effectively in this noisy economy, what
you say and what you believe in must align with what you do. Show millennials
that the best leaders are transparent with their beliefs. Teach them to
communicate from the inside out. Share your company vision with your
millennials and have them contribute to your mission statement. Show them how
to communicate their value so it’s congruent with their “why.”Once millennials understand this, they can
lead with transparency.

Millennials have the ability
to become great leaders. We just need to teach them to recognize and lead from
their innate strengths, communicate effectively, listen well and be transparent
in what they do. Start today and lets awaken the leaders of tomorrow!

Thursday, August 18, 2016

For the past decade, I’ve been privileged to teach a leadership course at
Stanford with Professor Charles O’Reilly. The amazing array of leaders who’ve
visited our classroom has included Greg Boyle (the Jesuit priest who founded
Home Boy Industries) and Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s former long-time CEO); star
athletes like NFL quarterback Steve Young and MBA point guard Kevin Johnson
(now mayor of Sacramento); former White House chief of staff Andy Card,
Bloomin’ Brands CEO Liz Smith, and retired four-star general Stanley
McChrystal.

Such outstanding leaders – and others from the ranks of startups, politics,
popular culture, and big business – hail from every ethnicity, family and
educational background, and rung on the social ladder. Some emerged early in
their careers, while some blossomed late. Some of these leaders are reflective,
others instinctive. Some are funny, others humorless. Their leadership styles
are similarly variable. Some work their magic from positions of informal
influence, others from the top spot on an organizational chart. Some are
visionaries, others are tacticians. Some lead by charisma, others by consensus
building.

As diverse as they are, I’ve found that leaders do have certain things in
common. And that the following three characteristics of leadership still
surprise many:

1. Leaders
get results through others. The ability to delegate might seem obvious, but
it’s a major challenge for young people who have excelled because of their
ability to deliver results. In many cases they stumble as leaders for the very
reason they’ve been such good producers; what served them well when they
couldn’t trust others to do the job becomes their Achilles heel as a leader.
The transition from being a producer to being a leader is one all of our
standout guests have learned.

Learning to “scale” through delegation means dealing with the imperfections and
occasional failures of others. But more than that, it means becoming really
good in the first place at hiring talented people and retaining them – as well
as at replacing those who don’t “fit” so well. It also means using one’s leadership
position to inspire. The job of a great leader is less about hands-on execution
than it is about being confident enough to create a team of competent people
who are on the same page. I like to remember General George Patton’s advice:
“Don’t tell people how to do things – tell them what to do and let them
surprise you with their results.”

2. Leaders teach inductively. Great leaders, unlike great
scholars, tend to be inductive thinkers, reasoning from the specific to the
general, from the story to the principle. They are storytellers, illustrating
core values with memorable, colorful anecdotes. These leaders have often
achieved a “far-side simplicity” that reflects the statement of Supreme Court
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “I would not give a fig for the simplicity
this side of complexity; but I would give my life for the simplicity the other
side of complexity.”

3. Leaders have wisdom.Popular culture seems to cast many
leaders as merely ambitious or politically savvy, even greedy or self-referencing.
By contrast, great leaders are trusted. They’re trusted because they have
wisdom, being able to “see around corners” and lead an organization to
“all-things-considered” optimum results.

Great leaders are rare. They invariably leave organizations better off
than they found them, empowered to sustain and improve on the foundations
they’ve laid. Great leaders are at the center, but they are not the
center –precisely because they’ve learned to trust and to delegate, to identify
and celebrate a unifying narrative, and to predict and deliver results. When
leaders internalize these lessons, the like-minded followers they attract
ensure an enduring legacy.

Author Bio:Joel Peterson (Twitter: @JoelCPeterson), chairman of JetBlue and a longtime
consulting professor at the Stanford Business School, is the author of the new
book “The 10 Laws of Trust: Building the Bonds That Make a Business Great.”
http://www.10lawsoftrust.com/

Monday, August 15, 2016

I wrote this post for another publication
in 2014, but it appears they have deleted it. I’m preparing to do a workshop on
how to nurture high potentials and found it in my archives. Still looks
relevant to me!

Warning:
the following article contains a heavy dose of sarcasm. Read at your own risk,
and whatever you do, DO NOT follow the advice!

A
high potential employee is one of your highest performing employees that also
is showing signs of being able to handle greater responsibilities. They are an
organization’s top guns, rising starts, and typically represent the upper 10%
of any organization, or the cream of the crop.

Unfortunately,
organizations don’t always do a good job when it comes to nurturing,
developing, rewarding, and retaining their high potential employees. In fact,
it often seems like they are going out of their way to sabotage their best employees.

Of
course, most organizations don’t intentionally try to kill their high
potentials. It’s just that many managers don’t know how to manage a high
potential, and end up doing well-intended things that get unintended results.
Or – in some cases – they actually do set their high potential employees up for
failure, as a result of feeling threatened or jealousy.

So
– if you want to kill your high potentials, just follow these 10 steps:

10
Ways to Kill your Best employees:

1.
First of all, recognize that high-potential employees are a threat to your own
job and treat them that way. These eager beavers are always exceeding
expectations, are ambitious, and want nothing more than to step all over you to
climb their career ladder. Watch your back, and keep them on a short leash!

2. Put them in a job rotation program, with a never-ending series of short
assignments with no real accountability or opportunity to contribute. These
people have short attention spans anyway, and will love the variety. Move them
around to remote ends-of-the-earth locations without asking them.
Cost-of-living differences? School systems? Trailing spouses and families?
Cultural differences and hardships? Hey, it’s all part of the development
experience.

3. Because HIPOs are so good, you can ignore them. No need for feedback, as
feedback is only for losers. Great employees are like self-licking ice cream
cones, they need little time or support from their managers. This will free you
up to spend more time on your under-performers, and other important management
responsibilities, like your reading your email micromanaging the rest of your employees.

4.
Give them impossible and unrealistic goals. We call these “stretch”
assignments, or “development challenges”. And a lot of them too. They’ll need
to learn how to prioritize and learn from their failures. Don’t bother offering
training or coaching to support these stretch goals – save those limited
dollars to spend on your underperforming employees.

5. Although you can call these “developmental”, treat them like assessments, a
never-ending gauntlet of impossible challenges. Then step back and watch them
stumble and fall. When they quit or fall off the fast track, you can
congratulate yourself for being a keen evaluator of talent.

6. Tell everyone around them that they are a HIPO. Give them little “HIPO” name
badges and frequent public displays of affection. Their peers will love them,
welcome them with open arms, and want to be just like them!

7. Make sure they change bosses frequently. You don’t want them to have time to
develop a relationship with any one manager, constant change and variety is
much better. The same is true for mentors – put an end to those relationships before the employee
gets too dependent.

8. Take credit for their accomplishments. That’s one of the few benefits of
managing HIPOs - they do produce fantastic results. Taking credit will help to
keep them humble.

9. Ask them to help out your underperforming employees. This will teach them
how to mentor and coach – they’ll love it!

10. Whatever you do, do not provide them with positive feedback. That would
just swell their inflated egos even more. They already know how good they are,
so it’s more important to point out their faults.

There you go! Follow these steps, and you’ll be sure to end up with nothing but
a team of underperforming, lazy, C player slackers. You can blame it on HR, upper management, or your
organization’s compensation and benefits package.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

What happens when you no
longer feel the enthusiasm you once had for your coaching sessions?

You know the signs of problems:

üSighing
when you realize it’s time for another call or meeting

üThinking
about all the other things you could be doing instead of the session

üWondering
whether it was a good use of your time when the call ends

Or worse…

üDreading
the call

üSaying
you need to sign off early when you don’t

üConsidering
rescheduling even though you don’t have a good reason

üCancelling
altogether

Most coachees have been
there—and so have most coaches! If one of you feels this way about the coaching
session, then in all likelihood the other does, too.

Neither of you mentioned it
because it’s uncomfortable. However, avoiding the discomfort of bringing up
uncomfortable subjects is just further proof that the coaching process is
derailing.

It’s time to address the uncomfortable
issue directly. Maybe not asking point blank, “Do you dread our sessions, too?”,
but rather, “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to spend a few minutes today
talking about where we are in the coaching process.” Another option could be,
“I’ve noticed a decreased energy between us in our last few sessions. Perhaps
we could think about whether we need to make some changes.”

Recognizing your negative
feelings is an opportunity to take necessary action. Here are four more tips
for addressing what could feel like an awkward issue:

1.Email ahead. Ask
for time to be set aside to discuss progress or next steps. It ensures that
both of you will come to the session mentally prepared for the conversation.

2.Rehearse Your Lines.
Having the right words ready makes it easier to say and helps you find the ones
that communicate in the best possible way. Some examples could be, “I noticed
that I’m not putting as much into the coaching process as I was early in our
relationship.” Or you could try, “Sometimes, I’m unprepared for our sessions
and I think about canceling.”

3.Be ready with suggestions. He or
she might ask for suggestions on how to make the process work better for you. Be
ready to answer. A possible response could be, “Sometimes, it feels like we’re
losing focus.” Or perhaps try, “There are times when I’m not feeling engaged
with our process.” Solutions could include stepping up the timeline or
modifying the sessions tone or style.

4.Read
the room. If the other person reacts defensively or sounds irritated
with your discussion, it might be time to take a break.

Coaches:
Are You Wasting Your Client’s Money?

Professional
coaches have set goals and timelines for the client along with scheduled, periodic
reviews. However, these measures do not preclude a decline in energy required
for coaching success.

Try this exercise to see if your coaching
experience needs work:

Make
a list of all of your current clients. Imagine that you have a coaching
appointment in one hour. Assess how you would feel in anticipation of the
meeting:

CLIENT’S NAME

Excited, Energized

Positive

Neutral

Negative

Resigned, Bored

Dread

·The
clients who received checks in the excited/energized
or positive columns probably feel
the same way. All clear here.

·Anticipating
a client call in a neutral mood
could be a warning sign for troubled water. Is it time to right the ship?

·If
your anticipatory reaction as the coach is resigned
or negative, it’s a red flag and a call to action: the coaching
relationship is headed for rocky shores.

·And
dread? The moment of truth is upon
you. How will you respond?

Clients: Are You Ready to Step
up Your Professionalism?

Executive coaching develops a
client’s self-awareness and self-management skills to become a more competent
professional. Like the coach, the client also has a responsibility to monitor
progress (or lack thereof) toward his goals. If the client feels bored with the
coaching process, then she has every right to suggest a pause for reflection.

It is not easy, especially for
people with a natural high need to please, high anxiety, and insecurity (or all
of the above). But true professionals embrace and manage discomfort. Moreover,
practicing this skill is exactly the type of exercise to try in a coaching
session.

The
bottom line? Both coach and client have an obligation to address negative
feelings as soon as they are aware of them. To continue the sessions without
exploring these concerns is, at best, unprofessional. If unaddressed, the
feelings will make the remainder of the coaching process even less effective
and more dreaded.

In other words, if you don’t
fix the problem together, then you two will end up wasting both of your time
and the client’s money. And nobody wants that—least of all the client!

@CoachJudyNelson has
golfed with presidents, been heckled by famous comedians, and researched
insurance policies for riding elephants on behalf of Zsa Zsa Gábor. As a former
CEO, Judy has been a Certified
Professional Coach since 2006 and assists leaders and career
seekers to develop and reach stretch goals. Her new book, Intentional Leadership (Motivational Press, 2016) debuts later this
year.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Each week it
seems that a new, horrible story about violence shocks us and shakes our faith
in every having a peaceful, civil, and kind world. As a leadership coach who
also trains leadership coaches, I believe that both coaching and being
coachable are key skills that can make a difference in this environment.

Coaching is the
process of asking powerful questions, listening, and sharing insights so that
people gain clarify and move forward to solve problems. I notice that in times
like these, more managers and leaders than ever before are questioning what
really matters to them. Coaching helps people gain clarity about what really
matters to them, how they should live, what type of careers they should have,
and how they can have maximum impact on the world both inside and outside of
their organizations.

For instance, I
have been working with a junior executive in a major investment firm. Initially
he hired me to become a better leader so that he could move up and oversee more
offices in his organization. However, as the coaching progressed and we built
trust, he shared that he also wanted coaching to figure out how to have more
impact in the world. We worked together to create a plan that allows him to
continue to grow as a leader in his present role while exploring opportunities
that might lead to new volunteer leadership roles, career opportunities in
industries where he believes he can make a more significant contribution, and
potential roles in a billion-dollar foundation that his organization runs. What
he shares in common with so many other coaching clients is a desire to make a
difference, to use his unique gifts to make a measurable contribution and serve
in the best possible way – all while still taking care of his family and being
financially responsible. He is trying to find an authentic life and career in
an extremely uncertain world with many needs.

A second way
that coaching brings value is by letting people process what is going on.
Whether you are a leader who uses coaching as a tool or a full-time coach,
coaching allows you to ask questions and then let others work things out.
Asking questions while listening and empathizing allows others to get more
grounded, come to grips with what is happening, and work through potential
distractions in order to get refocused.

Third, people
who know how to coach also understand what it takes to lead. They know how to
adapt their communication style to have more impact, how to engage and mobilize
teams, and how to influence others. This gives them the opportunity to get
involved in places that make the world more peaceful and civil. Any of us can
use our leadership skills to get involved with organizations that are having
impact on the world, that bring people together, and that make a difference.
For instance, I work with a teacher who recently decided to leave his teaching
job in the USA and spend time in Israel teaching English to impoverished
children. He has never traveled internationally but decided that now is the
time to build more bridges between cultures. We don’t have to give up our jobs
and move to a new country like this young man, but we can certainly get more
involved in leadership roles in non-profit and civic organizations in our
communities.

Fourth, if you
know how to coach, you can coach leaders of organizations that are making a
difference to be stronger. Among my colleagues are coaches who work with
leaders and managers of police departments, non-profit organizations focused on
building stronger communities, schools that teach diverse populations, and
governments. My own practice started by coaching non-profit boards and
executives to become stronger, more aligned, and to have the capacity to
achieve their missions in their communities. This kind of work is incredibly
rewarding, because it brings people with different viewpoints together and
often accomplishes remarkable results. For instance, I worked with a
billion-dollar community foundation to help the board decide their annual grant
making priorities to build a more diverse and inclusive community. I also
worked with a non-profit children’s theater company that developed and executed
a plan to bring drama training to children in 20 under-served schools. Coaching
and facilitation helped the leaders of these organizations to reach consensus
and be accountable for results – more so than if they had tried to move forward
without this kind of support.

Finally,
perhaps most importantly, leaders and coaches understand what it means to be
coachable. One of the problems in times of violence is that politicians and
pundits tend to dig in their heals about how best to solve the issue. Dialog
stops and one-way speeches and accusations become the norm. For instance, every
time there is a senseless shooting in the United States, it seems that one side
rushes to their stump speeches about gun control, while another side rushes to
their demands for better screening of possible terrorists, the mentally ill,
and enhanced law enforcement. Coaching reminds people to listen to others, go
into what is not known instead of what everyone thinks they already know, and
find common ground. It helps people shift from “no, but…” to “yes, and….”
Coaching can help different parties come together, listen to each other, and
develop solutions that work based on evidence rather than predetermined
positions and biases.

Coaching isn’t
a panacea. You can’t coach a terrorist or murderer to change their ways,
because you can only coach people who recognize a problem and want to change.
However, for leaders and coaches who understand the power of coaching, we can
make a difference – even a small one – in these very challenging times.

Andrew Neitlich is the founder and director of the Center for Executive Coaching,
a leading coach training organization based in Central Florida. He has trained
over 1,000 coaches around the world—including clients within FedEx, Aflac,
Microsoft, Cisco Systems, the United States Air Force, Florida Institute of
Technology, University of Minnesota, the United States Department of Defense,
Macy’s, the NBA, and Deloitte Consulting. Neitlich is author of five books and
received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Sarasota, Florida
with his family and plays lots of tennis. His new book, Coach! The Crucial, Deceptively Simple Leadership Skill for Breakaway
Performance, is available for purchase at centerforexecutivecoaching.com/book.You can learn
more at centerforexecutivecoaching.com
or connect via LinkedIn.